Poverty and Homelessness in the United StatesPoverty in America is a subject that though everybody recognizes is existent, most do not pay attention to very often. In 2010 the poverty line for a family of four was $22,314.00 and 15.1% of Americans were living off of less than that (Tavernise, 2011). While 15.1% is a high number to begin with, the truth is that many more people are living on the verge of homelessness. Countless families are split up every night with children going to a friend’s house or an extended family member’s house to ensure that everyone has somewhere to sleep. These people are called the “hidden homeless” by the Charlotte Observer (Whitesides, 2011). Even more people are either living in tent cities or in their cars all around the United States. The events that lead to homelessness range from drug abuse to being laid off from a career because of a poor economy; but sadly the former makes it seem as if everyone who is homeless is in their situation because of their own faults. Many people who are approached by someone who is homeless or sees them panhandling for money hesitate to offer money because of the discourse that all homeless people are alcoholics and drug abusers. Unfortunately, the truth is that “many adults panhandle on corners for money to pay for a cheap motel room so that their children can have a warm place to sleep for the night” (Whitesides, 2011). Through this essay, the topic of homelessness and poverty in America will be explored by understanding some of the causes that have contributed to poverty throughout history and how the homeless are coping with their situation.

Hundreds of people all around the city of Seattle, Washington are homeless or living in their cars. In Ballard alone, there are an estimated 150 people living in their cars (Thompson, 2011). A new program in January is to begin, opening up church parking lots in Ballard for up to five cars to spend the night somewhere safe. All who want to spend the night in the parking lots must apply and be screened which is a task that the state and city combined granted $30,000 towards (Thompson, 2011). So far, Redeemer’s Lutheran Church has stepped up to host the homeless in cars decided by a unanimous decision in September (Thompson, 2011). While people all across the United States are visibly poor, like those who are living in their cars, many others are suffering just as well with the stress of not knowing whether or not they will have a roof over their head at night. Many of these people are teenagers who either do not have parents who can support them, are too old for foster care, have mental-health issues, or have been evicted from their homes (Whitesides, 2011). These teenagers are ones who go bounce from friend to friend sleeping at their houses every night because they have no other place to go.

The homeless problem is one that is growing worse and worse as the years go on. In 2010 46.2 million people were living below the poverty line which is the highest number in the past 52 years (Tavernise, 2011). Economists say that joblessness is the main cause of poverty in America (Tavernise, 2011). 48 million people between the ages of 18 and 64 did not work even one week of the whole year, which is up three million from 2009 (Tavernise, 2011). While maintaining a job and progressing through a company is hard enough with a college degree, full-time male workers with no college degrees on average have made no progress (Tavernise, 2011). Of the 46.2 million Americans living below the poverty line, 20.5 million are surviving off of less than half of the $22,314.00 poverty line. To save money, many Americans are cutting as many costs as they can in their daily lives. One of these costs, unfortunately, is insurance. The number of uninsured Americans increased by 900,000 to 49.9 million people (Tavernise, 2011). In Gaston County, North Carolina community meetings are held focused on finding ways to help those who are having...

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...﻿Running head: POVERTY IN THE UNITEDSTATES 1
Poverty in the UnitedStates
Matthew P. DeRemer
Mount San Jacinto College
Running head: POVERTY IN THE UNITEDSTATES 2
Today, "the number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is increasing to record levels with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty" ("Poverty in the UnitedStates," 2012). When looking at the increasingly important issue of poverty in the UnitedStates, one cannot help but wonder how this will affect future generations and the stability of the nation as a whole. In order to fully understand the problem at hand, poverty must first be defined, have the causes and effects of it examined, look at it from a world-wide perspective, and then consider how it will affect the future of the UnitedStates. The goal of this document is to bring to the readers attention the potential consequences of ignoring poverty in the UnitedStates and motivate them to do something about it.
"Poverty is the deprivation of well being that occurs when people cannot...

...The issue of children living in poverty in the UnitedStates is a complex and controversial issue. Despite the UnitedStates having the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, the UnitedStates has the highest number of children living at or below the national poverty level (CIA, World Factbook, 2007). The current federal poverty level is $20,650 a year for a family of four. The government believes that a family of four needs twice this amount, $41,300 a year, to meet basic needs. Families with incomes 100 to 200% below $41,300 a year are considered low income families. Using that figure, statistics show that over 28 million children live in low income families. That figure represents 39% of all children in the UnitedStates.
The current method used by the UnitedStates to measure poverty levels was developed more than 40 years ago. The system was developed based on the presumption that families 40 years ago spent one-third of their income on food. This method causes a problem today because food now comprises far less than a third of the average family’s expenses. Another problem with this method is that poverty levels are measured on a national standard with no regard for the variation in the cost of living from state to...

...Poverty and children in the UnitedStatesPoverty by definition means: “State of being poor. The state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.” (Encarta dictionary) That is a word that many of us ignore, yet poverty among children in the UnitedStates is problem that is not going to solve itself. People today are not concerned with the troubles of others like they were in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Communities back then looked out for each other. When one family was lacking the community pulled together to ensure the family had what they needed. Today communities are not that way. People only look out for their own well being. With modernization there comes social change and sometimes those changes are not for the better when it comes to today’s children living in poverty.
There have been many different studies to determine the percentage of children living in poverty. The UnitedStates Census Bureau’s estimate of children living in poverty increased from 13 million to 13.4 million from 2004 to 2005. This is “according to the latest report from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, a division of the U.S. Census Bureau that calculates annual income for states, counties, and school...

...POVERTY IN THE UNITEDSTATESPoverty in the UnitedStates today has many faces. There’s the pleading face of a middle-aged man on a city street holding up a sign that says “Hungry, Need Help.” There’s the anxious face of a young child in a schoolroom somewhere, whose only real meal today will be a free school lunch. There’s the sad face of a single mother who doesn’t have enough money to buy clothes for her children. And there’s the frustrated face of a young man working at a minimum-wage job who can't afford to pay his rent.
The federal government measures poverty by the numbers. In 2007, the federal “poverty line” was set at $16,530 for a family of three and $21,203 for a family of four (USCB). If a family makes less than those amounts of money in a year, it is officially classified as poor. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 12.3 percent of all Americans were living in poverty in 2006. That equates to more than 36 million people, more than the entire population of the state of California.
Of course, poverty means more than just not having enough money. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development recently interviewed people with low incomes about how being poor feels. Some of the responses were: “Not enough food, unable to buy medicine.” “It means that each and every day is a struggle. It means you have no...

...Abstract
The UnitedStates is the richest nation, yet millions of Americans live below the poverty line and millions more struggle every month. The children in society today living in poverty is increasing daily. The majority of these children are from single-parent homes where sometimes parents are not working or have become disabled and therefore cannot work. Children who are raised in foster care and leave as adults do not have strong relationship ties most of the time and are at an increased risk for experiencing poverty, early parenthood and homelessness (American School Board Journal, 2007). The reason for most of the poverty in the UnitedStates is due to low family incomes.
Poverty is a disease. A disease that clogs our government system as it is something there is no cure for, at least not yet. Poverty is declining, but the reasons for families still living in poverty continue to grow. When there are no jobs or no opportunities, or losing one's job due to illness or debilitating injury, a family can find themselves in the lap of poverty without realizing how they got into the situation.
What is poverty? Poverty can be explained to be lacking the resources to meet the basic needs for healthy living. By not having insufficient income to...

...Child Poverty and The UnitedStates
Melissa Sandusky
University of Phoenix
Child poverty can be found in every corner of the world. In any country there are children living within the devastating effects of poverty. Child poverty has become a worldwide epidemic, and the impacts it has on children are countless. This paper will discuss child poverty in the UnitedStates and how it has impacted our poor children in this country. In the research I found four major ways that poverty affects these UnitedStates children. They are physical health, mental well-being, education, and environment which I will describe in further detail.
People often view the United Sates as the land of opportunity and plenty. We see television ads asking for monetary donations for children in other countries who are living in poverty. We have countless organizations that work to help combat poverty throughout the world. This country may be looked upon as a land of plenty by other countries, but the UnitedStates also has problems of its own. One of those problems is child poverty. As of 2006, there were 39.7 million UnitedStates citizens living in poverty, and single mothers and women had...

...from the society. Poverty is a huge social problem that affects billions of people not only nationally and at a state wide level, but also at a county level as well. Poverty means that the poor have fewer opportunities to education, health care, and the support networks used for family stability. Poverty is both a structural aspect of the system and an ongoing consequence of how that system is organized, their easiest routes taken, that shape how the people in a society participate in it. Due to there being an unequal distribution of the resources poverty occurs.
As poverty plays such a tremendous social problem in our world today, we must come to understand that poverty does not just effect one person or one area; it affects us locally, statewide, and nationally. The county we live in, Robeson County, has the third highest poverty level in the UnitedStates. It has been documented that one-third of the families that reside in Robeson County live on $15,000 or less in a years’ time. Based on the information Manager Ken Windley of Robeson County had provided, just within a seven or eight month time span Robeson County had lost over more than 9,000 of its jobs. Windley stated in an interview, “Education opportunities weren’t needed when factory work was available.” Over 45% of the working class in Robeson County have no high school...

...- Argumentative Essay
Poverty in the UnitedStatesPoverty is a serious issue not only in third world countries but also here in the UnitedStates. Discussing the nature of poverty in the UnitedStates is important because through understanding we will find solutions. Gaining insights into the issue of poverty can be used to understand the complexity of the subject. Poverty has been defined as a state of deprivation of goods and services that essential to the maintenance of an adequate standard of living in a given society. Although the concept of poverty is considered relative, it cannot be denied that it magnifies the problem concerning inequality in a particular society (Levitan). The struggle of poverty impacts people’s day-to-day life. It is easy to hide some things in life but, poverty is not one of them. There are 633,782 homeless people in cities throughout the UnitedStates (St. Francis).
Poor people have no place to live and are being exposed to nature’s elements, bacteria, and harmful illness can cause threat to the health of these individuals. The environment is being impacted as well, because there is nowhere to put waste or garbage other than on the ground. This is why it is important to gain insight and understand...

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